


There Is a Future

by Etherway



Series: After The War [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, Cute Ending, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Near Future, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24643360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etherway/pseuds/Etherway
Summary: When Adora's wish came true she never expected to be afraid of it. But she had been here before... and it had nearly killed her. But with Catra there, she could do anything. Especially if it was just taking her hand.(My take on what would happen if Adora's wish in the last episode actually happened)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: After The War [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781746
Comments: 4
Kudos: 178





	There Is a Future

Adora huffed and tried to blow some of her fringe out of her face as she pushed the door shut to their small cottage. Taking a few deliberate steps, she slung the small bag over her shoulder and laid it next to the small sofa in the living room. With a sigh she flopped down into the corner of the sofa and closed her eyes. She smiled when she heard faint footsteps on the floorboards and relished the feeling of the comforting arms that rested around her neck and on her shoulders.

“Hey Adora.” Her girlfriend said quietly from above her, resting her cheek on the top of her head from the back of the sofa.

“Hey Catra.” She replied, lifting a tired arm to rest on the other side of her face and gently scratched under her ear eliciting a soft purr. They stayed like that for a minute treasuring the peace.

“Rough day?” Catra asked.

“Meh, it could have been worse.” Adora replied. Catra lifted her head for a second and looked down at her girlfriend. Adora’s hair had pretty much fallen out of its usual bun and obviously had not been corrected in quite some time. Also, the way she hadn’t pulled away from their extended greeting hug meant that Catra didn’t believe her for a second.

“Riiiggghht.” She said as she curled her fingers through the back of Adora’s hair pulling the hair tie with it, causing the rest of her hair to flop around her shoulders. Adora reached a hand down over the arm of the sofa and dug around inside her bag for a second before pulling out a small scroll. She lifted it up above her head so Catra could see it.

“You’ll want to read this.” She said before relaxing back into her embrace. Catra reached out and took the scroll and unravelled it with one hand as the other moved to gently stroke Adora’s scalp who happily hummed at the attention. She looked at the paper: It was an invitation, to the fifth anniversary of the end of the war- and it was Scorpia’s first time at hosting an event of this scale.

Etheria was still healing, even after all this time and so previous celebrations- although heartfelt, had lacked the usual flair that normally happened when there were princesses involved. This year though, the kingdoms were starting to get back on their feet. Well… except one. What used to be the fright zone now simply referred to as “The Caldera” had obviously been thrown into chaos. But slowly with the help of all the other kingdoms it had started to get better. This didn’t, however, stop Scorpia from wanting to stand up to her duties and so Glimmer had offered up Brightmoon as a replacement venue and stepped aside to let Scorpia do what she saw fit. 

Catra pouted slightly. “Do we have t-

“Catraaa.” Adora groaned.

“All right, all right.” She conceded, “Why do I have to like her so much?” Adora chuckled at her antics and perked up suddenly.

“Oh, but you should have seen her face when she gave it to me!” She said, sitting a bit higher in the sofa, getting ready to tell her tale.

“Hang on to that thought.” Catra said pushing away from sofa and headed towards the kitchen. Adora’s head lolled to the side as she watched her girlfriend disappear through the door, her roughly thrown together ponytail bouncing as she went. She loved the way Catra had managed to pull off the relatively tidy and yet extremely unkept hairstyle. Especially when her ponytail Is sticking out from between her-

_No, no, no, no, no, nope, nu-uh. Mind out the gutter._

Catra soon returned holding a tray with two steaming mugs on it. Adora’s face lit up. “Ahhh, someone’s had a breakthrough with Entrapta!” She said as Catra placed the tray down on the small coffee table in front of the sofa.

“What!? Aren’t I allowed to make something nice for you when you get home?” Catra growled back at her. Adora rolled onto her stomach across the sofa and rested her chin on her crossed hands.

“ _Suuuuuuuure_ ” She said, grinning impishly. Catra growled, turned and tried to kiss the smirk off her face. Adora felt a pleasant shiver run down her spine. She loved getting Catra worked up like this. She would cup her face so her nails were running along the top of her eyebrows and she would use her fangs to nip her bottom lip-

_No! Mind. Out. The Gutter!_

Deciding that Adora had a satisfactory dazed expression Catra pulled away and nudged her back up to the other end of the sofa so she could sit down and curl into her side, whilst reaching out and handing one of the mugs to Adora.

“So… what’s the breakthrough?” Adora pushed. Catra sighed.

“We think we’ve found a way of replicating Darla’s thrusters.” She said. She looked up to see Adora’s endeari- _irritating_ smirk on her face. “What?”

“I told you I knew you had made a breakthrough!” She singed. Catra just flopped her head down on Adora’s chest and groaned. Adora laughed and leaned down to kiss the top of her ear and told her for the umpteenth time: “I like it when you do this, it tells me something special has happened.” She reassured. Catra sighed and nodded.

“So… Scorpia’s face?” Catra prodded.

“Oh! Right!” Adora said, taking a quick sip of the hot chocolate Catra had brought through. She came away with a little bit of the froth on the corner of her lips which Catra was quick to kiss away with a smile. Adora’s mind proceeded to happily short circuit again and she melted into Catra’s mouth. She pulled away far too soon for her liking and she stared starstruck at her for a few seconds. Catra smirked up at her and put her mug back down on the tray before proceeding to curl up further into Adora’s side.

“Scorpia…?” She said trying to bring her girlfriend’s mind back on track. Adora blushed and coughed.

“Scorpia… yes… Scorpia… Right! So, she had been trying to find me in the castle and had been looking for a while…”

.o0o.

Adora stormed her way through the long corridors. Her bag felt heavy around her shoulder as she marched. She had been brought into the preparations for the anniversary festival coming up and she had been given a list the literal length of herself of things she had to check. It had taken all day and most of the preparations had been a mess, leaving Adora with the temptation to claw her eyes out. But this was Scorpia’s big event, and her friend deserved her best efforts, however stressful that may be.

So, she had visited the ballroom and gave her suggestions on where some decorations should go to the world’s most indecisive planners. She had gone to the large workshops to find a ledger of all the production and whereabouts of the new decorations and fireworks. She had visited the Kitchens which were on overdrive producing as many snacks and treats as they physically could. Heck even Wrong Hordac was in there helping out which brightened up her day a little. She… may have stolen a brownie or two and took a shortcut past the makeshift laboratory in the lower levels. Definitely a shortcut… not to visit her girlfriend. No… definitely not.

Catra had found her calling amongst the machines and first one’s tech of the lab, working with Entrapta who was staying in Brightmoon for an extended amount of time to study and replicate as much of they could of Darla. Yes, they had a lot to fix back on Etheria but now… not even the sky was the limit and so they had begun to look ever upward.

Down here Catra could stay… mostly… out of trouble, and if her attempts at learning what Entrapta could teach ended up in a big explosion then everyone immediately blamed it on the first one’s tech. Except when the best friend squad would next meet up in a small moment of peace there would be some directed sarcastic comments. But Catra was happy and that’s all Adora could ever ask for.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone calling out her name: “Adora! Adora!” She stopped and turned to see Scorpia running up to her through the hallways.

“Adora…” She huffed out of breath. “There you are… Lord above you move _fast…_ I asked a guard if they had seen you five minutes ago and I was led on a wild… Adora chase all the way around the castle…” She put a pincer up against the wall “I mean… Do you even stop to _breathe!?_ ” Adora laughed, her stress momentarily forgotten about for now.

“What can I do for you?” Adora asked smiling patiently to let her friend catch her breath.

“I wanted to give this to you both, but I didn’t know when I would see you, so I hope you’d show it to her.” Scorpia said standing up straighter and smiling down at her as she very gently held out a small scroll in her pincers, being extremely carefully not to crush it. Adora gently took it from her.

“What is it?” She asked as she began to unravel it.

“It’s an invitation to the ball!” Scorpia replied beaming.

“Ummm… I’ve been helping you prepare for the past two weeks and I think this is now the…” Adora said whilst quickly counting on her fingers “Thirteenth time you’ve checked to see if Catra and I are coming?”

Scorpia shyly smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah… I know… It’s just I want it to be perfect and I would _really_ like Catra to come. But I know she doesn’t like this kind of thing and I don’t want to force her into anything she doesn’t want and-

“Scorpia!” Adora laughed “Don’t fret Catra’s coming.” Scorpia immediately perked up.

“She is?” she asked her eyes full of hope.

“I didn’t even have to persuade her.” Adora replied. Which was true, as much as Catra made a fuss about it she hadn’t once even jokingly refused to go.

“Ah that’s great!” Scorpia said beaming. She then stepped back looking slightly nervous. “You… You don’t think that me giving out personal invitations is too much… do you?” Adora smiled and put her hand on her friend’s shoulder, careful not to prick herself on the spikes.

“If you feel like this is what you _want_ to do. Then no, it isn’t too much.” Scorpia beamed down at her and crushed her in a hug.

“You know you’re a _great_ friend, right?” She asked.

“ _Scorpia… Can’t… Breathe…”_ Adora managed to croak out.

“Whoops! Sorry, I did _not_ mean to do that.”

“it’s fine.” Adora said after a second of getting her breath back, but she did sound a little croaky.

“Sorry, umm sorry… uh- yeah, I did not mean to… sorry. Ummmm. I’ve got more invites to deliver and I need to find Glimmer and she could be _literally anywhere_ on Etheria, so I need to get going, yep, Bye!” She said and ran off down the hallway.

.o0o.

“She went to find glimmer?” Catra asked, her head in Adora’s lap and purring quietly as Adora’s fingers was rubbing _that spot_ behind her ear.

“Yeah,” Adora said, “She had a point. I mean Glimmer could be literally _anywhere,_ so it probably took her while to find her today.”

“Well…” Catra began as her smile got bigger.

“What?” Adora asked, twisting her finger and digging deeper into the spot causing Catra’s breath to hitch.

“She and Bow dropped by the lab this morning; they’re staying the night at Mystacor to check up on the sorcerer’s displays.”

“Oh… _oh…”_ Adora said and stifled a giggle behind her hand, which certainly _did not_ cause Catra’s heart to flutter a little in her chest. “Well I guess she’s going to be searching a little longer then!” She said. She looked Contently down at Catra “So what’s this about Darla?”

.o0o.

Honestly Adora was surprised she didn’t connect the dots sooner. But… as Catra always says, she is an idiot. It was _Scorpia’s first ball._ It should have set off all the alarm bells the moment the words passed through her head, but no… She had started to blindly help which only caused herself to go full steam ahead into this moment.

As the day arrived, she had been clueless. She had woken up next to her sleeping girlfriend, cuddled under the blankets as the first rays of dawn passed through their curtains. She laid there for a minute happily soaking in the moment, her eyes drifting over the ghosting of freckles on the back of Catra’s shoulder and laid to rest on the oval shaped bruise. She felt her cheeks flush, but she felt the happy stab of pride. She gently untangled their legs so she could stretch and start to get her blood flowing again, but the disturbance caused Catra to stir who grunted slightly. She rolled over and wrapped her arms around Adora’s waist and sleepily pulled her closer- resting her head against her shoulder and mumbled happily against her collarbone.

“Catra… c’mon we need to get up.” Adore mumbled against her ear. Catra _whined_ and tried to cuddle up even closer to her.

“Can’t we just stay here all day?” Catra replied, her voice muffled by Adora’s shoulder.

The offer was seriously tempting, they could-

No… they couldn’t. Scorpia’s ball.

“I wish.” Adora said, burying her face in Catra’s hair, “But it’s Scorpia’s ball today and we need to get ready.” Catra groaned which sent a small vibration through her shoulder, further weakening her resolve to get up.

“Come on,” Adora said slightly pushing her away, “Or we’ll end up seeing Scorpia’s disappointed face.” Catra groaned and rolled onto her back which caused the blanket to slip down… Adora pinned her head up to Catra’s face or she definitely would _not_ be getting up today.

“Fiiiinnne.” Catra grumbled and swung her legs to the side so she could get up. Adora’s eyes glided down her back and she licked her lips before forcing her gaze away. This was not doing her any good.

It wasn’t the fact that it was Scorpia’s first ball that set her off, she didn’t even think anything of it. She didn’t blink once when a servant delivered the dress Glimmer had prepared for her in the Castle even though it was _painfully_ clear she had seen it before. She was wonderfully naïve when she got changed in one of the private rooms in the castle, but then she turned around…

She saw her distorted reflection in the waterfall and gasped.

_No… this couldn’t be happening._

But her dress was the same, a simple white gown with a small golden chevron and a white cape, finished off with a small gold tiara, she had put her hair up in the same way and she was staring at the same reflection.

_No, no, no, no, no…_

She jumped when the door crashed open

“Just let me brush it!” Glimmer cried racing into the room after Catra.

“No!” Catra laughed as she tried to get away from Glimmer’s hairbrush.

_No, no, no, no, Please…_

Catra raced around Adora trying to use her to block Glimmers Path.

“Don’t let her touch me! She’s gonna torture me!” She said grinning from ear to ear. But Adora couldn’t bring herself to smile and just stared on in horror at the scene before her, even with Carta’s comforting hands resting on her shoulder.

“Do you _always_ have to be this dramatic?” Glimmer teased, resting her hands on her hips.

“C’mon guys!” Bow’s voice called from the door. Adora’s heart started to race unpleasantly, there was _no_ way this could be a coincidence. “If we’re late to Scorpia’s first ball, she’s gonna kill us!” He said as Glimmer rested back on him.

“Fine! You’re off the hook, _this_ time!” Catra poked her head up and stuck her tongue out. Adora would have found the whole thing funny… If she didn’t feel like she was about to have a heart attack.

Bow and Glimmer smiled and turned to leave the room and Catra followed along not that far behind them. Realising that Adora wasn’t with her she stopped and turned.

_Please don’t say it! Please don’t say it!_

“You coming?” She asked and held her hand out. Adora gasped and flinched away, squeezing her eyes shut against the flashing lights in front of her eyes. Her breathing skyrocketed along with her heartrate but she found that it hurt to breathe.

 _“A beautiful wish… But there will be no future… not for you.”_ His voice echoed in her mind. Adora cried out and pushed her palms into her ears whilst hyperventilating. Catra was instantly at her side and gently dragged her to a nearby bench and sat her down next to her. She pulled Adora’s head towards her so she was laying against her chest and she calmly breathed in as deeply as she could. It was a trick Perfuma had taught them years ago, when panic attacks of the war haunted them often. When they got really bad, they were so lost in their memories that no amount of talking or trying to break through could work. So Perfuma had sat them down and tried to teach them a few techniques that could help.

They had learnt to automatically try and match the breathing of the other, so even if they were fighting the shadows of their past the other could lead them through the calming exercises for them. Catra carried this on for a few minutes whilst mumbling things into Adora’s ear, constantly checking her eyes for any sign of alertness. Adora’s breathing eventually calmed and her eyes snapped into focus.

“Hey,” Catra said gently causing Adora to look up at her. Adora’s eyes were twitching, constantly moving to different points across her face, like she was checking if she was really there. That meant it was one of the worst types of panic attacks they could get. “I’m here.” She said softly taking Adora’s hands into her own. Adora continued to stare for a moment before breaking free and crushing Catra in a massive hug and burying her head into the crook of Catra’s neck. Catra traced her nails in various patterns across the exposed skin of her back and kept whispering “I’m here.” Into her ear over and over again.

After a while Adora pulled her head back slightly so her voice wouldn’t be muffled by Catra’s neck. “W-when we were back at the heart.” She began and Catra shivered, they were always the worst when they involved the heart. “Before you got me back… I… had a dream?” She said in a rather questioning manner, like she really wasn’t sure if it was real or not, which was fair. “I- I saw this,” She said gesturing with her hand to the room. “Word for word, even down to this.” Her fingers brushed against the wing badge on Catra’s shirt that used to live on Adora’s belt buckle. “W- when you asked if I was coming, I reached out for your hand b… but you… shimmered and disappeared and were replaced by… by _him._ He told me that I wouldn’t get a future.” She sniffed and Catra felt her shoulder dampen slightly.

They stayed like that for several minutes until Catra asked: “Do you want to go home?” Yeah, they would get Scorpia’s disappointed face… which even she had to admit was one of the most heart-breaking sights in the world, but Adora would come first, she always would. Adora shook her head.

“No… I’m alright.” She said quietly and got to her feet whilst wobbling slightly. Catra followed her up.

“Okay, but first, we’re breaking this.” Catra said walking in front of her back to where she was.

“What?” Adora asked looking confused at her. Catra replied by turning back and sticking her arm out again.

“You coming?” She asked once more, exactly like she just did. Her heart wrenched when she saw the fear flicker across Adora’s face, but she smiled encouragingly but said nothing more, she needed to keep it as it was. Adora’s arm slowly extended but she hesitated before they made contact. They locked eyes and Catra nodded subtly. She could do this. Adora sighed and reached out-

Their hands collided and Catra wrapped her fingers around Adora’s whilst beaming at her. “I’m here,” She said again in a final reassurance. Adora looked at her in both shock and amazement before flinging herself at Catra. Their mouths collided and Catra moaned. Happy Adora kisses were just the _best._ One of Adora’s hands curled inside Catra’s hair and the other wrapped around her waist pulling her as close as possible.

Catra was here, and if she was here Adora could do anything. Even if it was as simple as taking her hand.

“Come on.” Catra said pulling away and combing her fingers through a small knot in Adora’s hair. “Let’s get going.” They walked through the door, fingers entwined and shoulders brushing up against each other.

“I’m sorry.” Adora apologised.

“Adora.” Catra groaned, “Stop apologising!” 

“Sorry.” Adora said again, smiling at her from the corner of her eye.

“Adora seriously- “Catra stopped herself when she caught on to Adora’s joke. She sighed and smiled. “You’re such an idiot.” She said, smiling fondly at her girlfriend starting what had become their own mantra over the last few years.

Adora beamed back at her, “Yeah,” She said cuddling up to Catra’s side, “Yeah, I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I hoped you liked it! I would really appreciate any feedback you have to give. These two are really fun to write with, I can only hope I've done it right! Whilst writing this my head has come up with several more drabbles and other such nonsense which has been hinted in this story so there's more to come!  
> Thanks for reading!


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